More Awards Of The Seiyuu Variety

And it also seems like the anime industry has finally graduated to the level of the American media juggernaut because every time I turn around there’s some new set of awards being handed out under a different banner. This time though I have a particular interest because I had previous mentioned the now revealed 3rd Annual Seiyuu Awards (complete with requisite snarky comments), how I hoped to see the results turn out, and how I thought they’d turn out (the sarcastic part). The sarcasm of course came from seeing a number of questionable winners over the past 2 attempts at these award and while I can still sense Kadokawa’s hand in the majority of the actual winners, at least they sort of make sense to me this time around. Here they are if you don’t already know:

I got two of them correct, but it’s amazing how many of my picks actually ended up winning for other roles.

Jun Fukuyama winning for best personality makes sense to me because of how much it came through in his roles that year (he really does go full force with both the magnificent bastard and the snivelling wiener boy) and when you think of all the radio interviews he probably did along with the drama CD’s it almost seems like a gimme.

If Megumi Nakajima hadn’t won best singer I might have just shot myself as that was definitely a debut to remember. I had her picked as a best newcomer, but after some reflection I realized that that didn’t seem right. I’d much rather have her win for singing then for her acting which is still quite shaky. And in case people are wondering, no, May’N doesn’t even come close to Nakajima’s effort and performance (as in I never even considered her in the running) as far as I am concerned and I still feel she saved the Macross Frontier Soundtrack from sub par mediocrity……for the Macross franchise I mean.

I messed up kind of bad on best new actress as I’ve already admitted. Haruka Tomatoes was also a gimme so no comment needed on that and Kana Asumi I’ve never heard of, but then again I suppose that’s because she’s new right.

Again never heard of the winners of the best newcomer male, but for obvious reasons. Though I am amused by the two characters that did win since I was forced to do a doubletake in order to confirm their sex.

Aya Endo as a best supporting actress seems strange to me as she’s essentially been promoted to the level of lead actress (I’m telling you I saw her rise all the way back in mid 2007) and didn’t have all that many supporting roles in 2008 besides Miyuki Takara. To me this seems as controversial as Rie Kugimiya getting best supporting actress last year for Nagi Sazenin, but this time we don’t even know what the controversial winner won for. It almost looks like she got bumped down by the person who got bumped last year so that she could take top spot this time around. Oh seiyuu awards, what would you be without your controversy. Oh and then there’s Miyuki Sawashiro whose name I see pop up all the time in supporting roles, but who I know nothing about. I guess her winning must make sense somehow, but I’m going to need a kind reader to explain it to me this time around.

Kazuhiko Inoue is a living legend of a seiyuu and I’m glad to see some of the legends getting recognition again. He also looks very distinguished and clearly masculine don’t you think? I’m just saying….just sayin’. And then there’s Sugita Tomokazu. Oh boy do me and him have a history. In the past I’ve loathed his acting style, if he wasn’t flat he was overacting, if he wasn’t annoying me he was boring me, but in 2008 it seems he’s managed to improve his range and tolerability tremendously in roles such as Leon Mishima to the point where I no longer really have an issue with him being in a cast and can even see him deserving this…sort of. I still would have sooner given it to someone like Ken Narita, George Nakata, Norio Wakamoto or Keiji Fujiwara though.

And now we hit the big ones. Rie Kugimiya is best seiyuu, justice is done. Everyone knows I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time after seeing her jilted for flashes in the pan and I even if it’s just Kadokawa and Friends seiyuu awards, I think she’s been long overdue for recognition on an official level such as this. 2 years after (jyuu nengo no?) confirming her as my favourite female seiyuu along with Romi Paku, Rie Kugimiya can join her in the rank of the cream of the crop. Although I still can’t help but feel that one of these things is not like the others. Seriously thank god they couldn’t find something to give Aya Hirano an award for again and avoided the controversy that plagued last years awards.

And then there’s my man Kamiya Hiroshi who took top honours. I’m guessing being a key figure in almost every popular anime to come out last year sealed the deal for him. Kamiya Hiroshi has proven to me that he has that it factor and the range to go with it, and on top of that he just seems to be a classy fellow in the same vein as Mamoru Miyano.

I’m so glad to not have reason to grouse as much this year as I did last year. Kadokawa sponsored series and favourites pretty much still own these awards, but it seems they have finally nailed down what looks to be a noticeable set of criteria for handing out these awards within that framework. High profile roles, contributive efforts and promoting the seiyuu industry by doing it proud to have you as a participant, that is what I’m getting as far as the 3rd annual seiyuu award winners go, and this year I think pretty much everybody earned the right to their respective awards. If you are out there J1mOne and Hashihime I’d like to hear what you think as well.

I basically covered my thoughts here but I’ll briefly outline them again. This year’s awards didn’t make me go WTF like the first two years, and although the awards winners look somewhat worthy, there are still a couple of question marks hanging over some of those awards. At least they’re getting the hang of not handing them out to people who obviously make no sense (think Morita Masakazu in year 1 & Kobayashi Yu in year 2)

1.Endo Aya should’ve won Best Lead Female but because it was taken up by Kugimiya Rie already, so she got relegated to supporting. Nobody knows what Kugimiya won for, please don’t tell me Louise or Shana because it’s laughable. Taiga is highly unlikely as Toradora! only came in a short while before the public voting closed and Nabari no O’s Miharu is just… impossible.

2.So basically they’re just dishing out awards to whoever they feel like (or whoever’s in Macross Frontier – 5 of this year’s winners are) regardless of suitability for the category.

3.Best personality rewards radio and TV work NOT voice work so it makes no sense to give it to Fukuyama Jun because his presenting work doesn’t stand out in any way. Tamura Yukari and Sakurai Takahiro are much more deserving.

4.Sugita Tomokazu for Best Supporting Male makes no sense either, Macross F is a very weak case fo an award. I think they just feel bad for not rewarding him for Haruhi and Gintama in past years. That seems to be a developing trend though, rewarding seiyuu belatedly – like Miyano last year

5.I also feel Kamiya should’ve gotten best lead last year for the first season of Zetsubo-sensei instead of best supporting for… whatever it was again. His body of work for 2008 isn’t as strong, and the best for me was Michael in Macross F which is a supporting role but they couldn’t give him that award again, right?

6.Sigma 7 got blanked out as usual because they don’t play ball with the panel, as I mentioned ppl like Yukana, Inoue Marina, Wakamoto Norio & Nakamura Yuichi will probably never ever win awards for voice acting.

7.The best new seiyuu I can agree with, if only because there were no feasible alternatives around.

8.And let’s not be too optimistic yet, Hirano could still win the overseas gong.

Anyway, that’s long enough. I’m not too worked up about the awards this year around so I’ll just sit back and keep an eye out for the Synergy, Tomiyama Kei & overseas awards when they’re announced tonight.

@Deathkillz: I still don’t get what you have against Rie Kugimiya. I’m assuming you were for Yukana then? Anyway for me Rie Kugimiya was just a blind guess based on her being a favourite. I never figured she would actually win.

@J1m0ne:

1. Well if Aya Endo wins next year for Best Female then there would appear to be a definite pattern and relationship as far as the best female and best supporting female awards go. Obviously that is that the person who won the best supporting award the prior year seems to end up winning the best award in the current year. And come to think of it, didn’t Kamiya Hiroshi win best supporting male last year to? Hmmmmm……

2. Yeah it seems that way to me too. Whoever was in the big 3 mecha series (Geass, Gundam and Frontier) appeared to have gotten the awards almost by default.

3. Do drama CD’s count as radio though? It is audio only after all and he did a lot of those. Maybe they felt they could work him in that way.

4. Yeah, to be perfectly honest I don’t really see him winning that too. To me he’s just become tolerable and what I meant to say was that I could live with him winning whereas before I absolutely could not stand to even here his voice and would have probably written a self-contained rant if he had won in 2006 or 2007. I popped the question on Animesuki as too what he could possibly have claimed it for as well. I’m tempted to think it is for Leon though based on the pattern that appear to have been set with this years awards.

5. See above, but yeah Gundam 00 and Macross Frontier….

6. Like I said, I would have sooner given best supporting to someone like Wakamoto then to Sugita Tomakazu. To me Tomakazu is still pretty average. And doesn’t Yukana still have that thing with Zeta Gundam hanging over her head? Obviously the panel has their darlings (in some cases they are the darling companies), but I wonder if they would also leave her out of consideration to save face.

7 & 9: Is it that you can live with the best new awards or that you think they outright deserved them? I noticed some crossover between these two points so I’m guessing it’s by the case.

8: Yeah I noticed that that one hasn’t been announced yet. If I’ve noticed another pattern it seems that nobody has won the same award two years in a row and that nobody has won more than one award in the same year so I’m thinking there’s a chance that it could go to her. Especially since there are a lot of people that still seem to perk up whenever her name is dropped. Hashihime being one of her more vocal supporters.

My problem with Kugumiya is that she keeps getting typecast in the same roles over and over. Maybe it’s not her fault, but it does nothing for her image as a serious actress. It’s disappointing, because she is a talented seiyuu, she’s no hack, so why does she keep getting wasted in roles like Shana, Akasaka or Zero no Tsukaima. Because it spins the wheels of the Akiba machine, that’s why.

The thing that annoys me about these awards is that they don’t tell you what people won for, so it becomes an exercise in headscratching. What did Sugita win for, the One Day Friend in Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei?

@Sorrow-Kun: Simple answer….pandering. 2ch loves the Rie Kugimiya tsundere role so companies cast her in them because it means more Yen. And I’m thinking (hoping rather) that we will find out what each individual won for at the awards ceremony. The last two years we learned what each person one for, but then again as J1m0ne pointed out the panels deliberation seems to be even less transparent then it was last year. It’s altogether possible that we might never know who won for what this year.